Kudankulam N-plant: Agitation financed by foreigners?

Tirunelveli, March 11: It was always in the air and now a case has been filed linking agitation against Kudankulam nuclear plant to foreign funds. The Government had last year launched a crackdown on some NGOs in Tamil Nadu for allegedly providing funds to stage protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.

As the agitation picks up, a whopping Rs 30 lakh transfer from London to the bank account of a woman, whose husband is linked to the stir, has led to suspicions prompting police to file a case against her.

Curiously, the case has been filed under a section that deals with seizure of property, which may be alleged or suspected to have been stolen, or which may be found under circumstances which create suspicion of the commission of any offence.

The case against Ambika under Section 102 CrPC has been registered by police after a branch of Canara bank here reported the transfer of Rs 29,98,782 into her savings bank account. Ambika's husband, Thavasi Kumar, is involved in the anti-nuclear project agitation.

The huge sum was deposited into Ambika's account by a London-based software engineer Anand alias Joshua Anand.Thavasi is also Kudankulam local body councillor. Thavasi Kumar was earlier Anand's driver in 1996. He has told the police that the money was for the purchase of property for Anand.

The case has been registered against Ambika under CrPC Sec 102 which gives powers to police to take action against suspicious and fraudulent dealings.

The transaction came to light ahead of the revival of anti-KNPP activists. Today the activists have laid a siege to the plant through sea.

Even, Union Minister S Narayanasamy had alleged many times that the activists were getting funds from abroad to sustain the agitation.

Meanwhile, S P Udhayakumar, convener of the Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy(PMANE), which is spearheading the stir, denied the charge. The PMANE has been campaigning for the closure of the 2X1000 MW nuclear plant being built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) with Russian assistance.

The Kudankulam nuclear power project was expected to be commissioned by April, anti-KNPP activists on Monday revived their protest by laying a siege to the plant.

Defying prohibitory orders clamped around the1,000 MW Unit-I nuclear plant, fishermen from Kanyakumari, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts came in boats with black flags and laid siege about 500 metres from the plant.

The protest was planned to coincide with the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.